Millions flooded the Internet and local post offices Wednesday to submit their taxes by the annual filing deadline. But the House of Representatives was busy for quite a different reason.
When the day had ended, the House had passed fully seven bills aimed at reining in the IRS, every one of which passed with a simple voice vote and with no objection from Democrat members.
The first among the bills would ban the targeting, by the IRS, of individuals based on their political beliefs. A second bill would nix the use of personal email addresses for official agency business, both of which harken back to key issues concerning the Lois Lerner scandal.
Speaker Boehner declared that the bills were coordinated in an effort to end a ‘culture of arrogance’ within the IRS which was profoundly evident in the congressional hearings in which officials showed no apparent remorse for having covered up the targeting of Tea Party groups.
A third bill would force the IRS to immediately terminate any employee who is found to be targeting any individual or group based on political affiliation or financial support, and yet another would allow the IRS to release information about investigations of taxpayers.
Two additional bills pertaining to tax-exempt status of non-profit groups would allow for immediate declaration of exempt status rather than waiting on IRS approval and would also allow for an appeal if exemption is initially denied.
